The Biggest National Security Risk of the Trump Presidency

President Trump has some very interesting priorities and preferences. Interesting, in this case, could be signs of risks in areas that this blog often does not venture into. This blog focuses on risks and potential risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. But this blog cannot ignore the fact that the incoming president introduces new risks in these areas that did not exist before. The primary risk is a switch in policy toward Russia.

When Russia was our enemy, we were adamant about two things: defending ourselves from whatever the Kremlin would throw our way, and proving that Capitalism works better than Communism.

The latter we have stopped proving after the fall of the USSR in 1989. The result is that we no longer have Capitalism. Most of our wealthiest people are not productive people, they are people who know how to fix the economic rules in their favor or find ways to define other people’s economic output as capital gains. I won’t go into the economics here.

However, the former, the defense, now has new dimensions that we did not face in the cold war. The worry is that if President Trump decides to “side” with Russia against our current allies, we would be pulling down our defenses against a state that has been on the constant attack of our defenses and infrastructure. Terrorism is one thing that attacks us and our way of life. Russia has been another, with constant cyber warfare, land and people grab of allied nations, and, most recently, outright lying about its support for a terrorism financing state.

Let’s also note that if President Trump decides that the United States should take sides with Russia against our current allies, we are not ready to defend ourselves from our allies. This is setting aside the fact that Russia is not likely to give up its efforts to disrupt the US in fundamental ways since President Trump and his policies are not likely to last beyond his term(s) in office. This is an incredible opportunity for Russia.

Even with our defenses, there are signs that Russia is getting through, as Washington Post recently reported. Now, if we let them in, it will be worse that the Trojan Horse because we would not require them to hide themselves in anyway.